JAPANESE10VTTITUDES TOWARD JEWS JENNIFER GOLUB IE PACIFIC RIM INSTITUTE OF THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE 95? G c. 2 THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE Blaustein Libnrv The American Jewish Committee protects the rights and freedoms of Jews the world over; combats bigotry and anti-Semitism and promotes human rights for all; works for the security of Israel and deepened understanding between Americans and Israelis; advocates public policy positions rooted in American democratic values and the perspectives of the Jewish heritage; and enhances the creative vitality of the Jewish people. Founded in 1906, it is the pioneer human- relations agency in the United States. JAPANESETATTITUDES TOWARD JEWS JENNIFER GOLUB /d_ Jennifer Golub is a research analyst in the American Jewish Committee's Department of Research and Publications. FOREWORD Mutual perceptions of the Japanese and Jewish peoples have been affected adversely in recent years by the large-scale publication of anti-Semitic books in Japan. There are relatively few Jews in the country, most of them foreigners living in Tokyo, so the book phenomenon came as a shock to Jews throughout the world. Such a development should not have been a complete surprise because scholarly sources, including this work by Jennifer Golub of the American Jewish Committee, point to a number of anti-Jewish antecedents in recent Japanese history. It should be noted that the imprecise and often stereotypic images that do exist, such as the pejorative association of Jews with money and power, have come largely from Western and other foreign sources. Moreover, Jews are greatly admired by many Japanese although they have very little specific knowledge of Jews and the Jewish experience. Opinions about Jews also reflect the general view of foreigners in Japan. The focus tends to be on the differences inherent in Japanese ways of thinking and living, so that a kind of national self-stereotyping emerges through which the Japanese generalize about themselves in relation to others. This is usually seen in terms of Japanese success in preserving homogeneity through conformity to strict cultural and societal codes. To reinforce this sense of uniqueness, positive and negative comparisons are made to other highly distinctive ethnic groups such as the Jews. There is very little ethnic diversity in Japan with some 1 million foreigners representing less than 1 percent of the total population. Most of these are Koreans who are considered resident aliens, but there are other minority groups including the Dowa, a traditional pariah group who are ethnically Japanese but who have engaged in low-status trade such as leather work. The Okinawans, Ainu, and increasing numbers of temporary guest workers are also distinct groups presenting a challenge to the high value the Japanese place on ethnic homogeneity and social cohesion. Japan's oil-driven foreign policy has also been a source of friction with Jews as many Japanese companies have complied with the Arab boycott of Israel. A suspicion that the government was involved in guiding the actions of Japanese business added to the concern of Jews in the United States and throughout the world. But recent developments between Japan and Israel have led to a belief that the Japanese government has adopted a more even- handed approach to the Middle East based on its desire to play a leadership role in global affairs. This is given evidence by important new understandings in the economic, political, and -IV- cultural areas that signify the move toward normalization of ties between the countries. The growing influence and power of Japan in business and finance is forcing the Japanese to redefine their relationship to the outside world. With this success has come the reality of having Japanese institutions and customs held up to critical scrutiny by foreigners. This increasing interaction with people of other nations and cultures is challenging long-held ideas grounded in ethnocentrism and chauvinism. The Japanese are beginning to learn how to live with change at the international level while they slowly change internal beliefs that inhibit their ability to function in a multicultural environment. It is encouraging to note that officials of the Japanese government have recognized the issues of anti-Semitism and racism as threats to Japan's image and effectiveness abroad. The Foreign Ministry, in particular, has responded to the concerns of AJC's Pacific Rim Institute by raising questions about anti-Semitism with Japanese publishers. One of these firms recently announced it will no longer publish the books of Japan's leading anti-Semitic author. But it is important to remember that such works are still prominently displayed in major Japanese bookstores. Jennifer Golub's treatise seeks to shed light on the historic and current aspects of the Japanese-Jewish experience. Her scholarly analyses offer new insights into the complex and lingering problems that need to be addressed while underscoring the considerable progress that has been made in ameliorating them. The reality we face is that Japan is a major power in a state of flux, and the ways in which it interacts with the outside world will affect us all. Bruce M. Ramer, Chair Neil C. Sandberg, Director The Pacific Rim Institute of the American Jewish Committee JAPANESE ATTITUDES TOWARD JEWS Anti-Semitism in Japan is one of the greatest anomalies in the history of that prejudice. A country containing no more than 1,000 Jews, one that is neither a Christian nor Muslim society, should not -- logically speaking -- have anti-Semitism. To be sure, outright hatred of Jews has never flourished there, and many Japanese have demonstrated strong feelings of friendship. Nevertheless, negative perceptions of Jews are widespread in Japan, as has become increasingly clear to Western observers since the appearance, beginning in 1986, of several anti-Semitic best-sellers by Masami Uno and others. Historical Overview Jewish traders and merchants came to Japan after 1854, when Commodore Matthew Perry opened the country to trade with the West. Refugees from Russia in 1889 and 1917, and from Nazi Germany after 1933, added to the country's tiny Jewish population. By the end of World War II, there were some 45,000 Jews in Shanghai (then under Japanese control) and in other Japanese-occupied areas such as Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore. These were primarily European refugees who had fled Nazi terror. Anti-Semitism in Japan first struck root in the 1870s. Christian missionaries arriving in 1873 brought their theological brand of anti-Semitism, and 1877 saw the translation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice into Japanese, with its stereotypical depiction of the Jewish moneylender Shylock. In 1905, the American Jewish banker Jacob Schiff helped Japan win its war with Russia by arranging enormous loans to that country. (He was instrumental in founding the American Jewish Committee in the following year, motivated by the pogroms against Russian Jews.) While helping create a positive impression of Jews, these loans also contributed to negative Jewish stereotypes in Japan. As scholar Tetsu Kohno has written, "Schiff acted as a Jew, and Schiff loans were connected with the Jewish financial ability to manipulate world events. This equation of Jews with capital runs as an undercurrent through all the debates on the Jewish question in Japan."1 Anti-Semitism did not gain a real foothold in Japan until after the Russian Revolution. Russian refugees brought The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (the notorious czarist forgery) to Japan and convinced many there that Jews were to blame for the revolution. The head of the army's "Jewish bureau" translated the Protocols into Japanese. In addition, some Japanese officers among the force that joined the antirevolutionary czarist army in Siberia absorbed -2- the anti-Semitic attitudes of czarist officers. These beliefs were strengthened after Japan capitulated in this conflict and the country entered a period of social upheaval in the 1920s. Kohno writes: It was alleged that all wars, revolutions, assassinations or moral degenerations originated from the Jewish conspiracy for global dominion. There occurred a coterie of ideologues, both military and civilian, who specialized in alarming the nation at what Jewish conspirators were up to, and pushing forward proper measures to counter this Jewish peril. ... As in other countries, Japanese youth was turning away from the old values of their fathers. According to the Jewish Conspiracy theorists, suffragist movements, labor disputes, feminist campaigns, free love, birth control and all subversive political activities were to be connected with conspiring Jews.2 Another scholar, Masanori Miyazawa, points to an additional aspect of this conspiracy theory: "After the collapse of the three great imperial powers -- Russia, Germany and Austria - and since they saw England as already Judaized to a large extent, they warned that Japan, as the last imperial power, had become the final target of the Jews."3 However, several factors helped limit the impact of anti-Semitism. As Kohno suggests, unlike its Western counterpart, Japanese anti-Semitism hardly extended below the middle class because "imported ideas were not so readily accessible to people of lower classes." Moreover, this stage "fell on the short but happy 'democratic' decade after World War I, and Japan was still able to enjoy academic and press freedom, so there was no lack of sound minds which grasped Jews as they are without stereotyped prejudices, and were able to debunk fallacies of the Jewish Conspiracy theory."4 Indeed, some Japanese demonstrated against Hitler's first persecution of the Jews in 1933. Japan's alliance with Germany in 1936 marked a turning point. During the latter half of the decade, three powerful anti-Semites in the military (Norihiro Yasue, Koreshige Inuzuka, and, most virulently, Nobutaka Shioden) began fomenting the Jewish-conspiracy theory in books and speeches. At the same time, the Japanese government began adopting anti-Semitic policies - at least partly to please the Germans, whose Tokyo embassy, Kohno writes, was "in full swing as Nazi culture center.